Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Review: The New Avengers Vol. 1

THE NEW AVENGERS VOL. 1 (Marvel, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects New Avengers (Vol. 2) Nos. 1-6 (cover dates August, 2010- January, 2011).
I know what you're thinking...wait, I already have New Avengers Vol. 1 Premiere Hardcover by Brian Michael Bendis. No you don't. See, this is the NEWNew Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis Vol. 1 Premiere Hardcover. Confused yet? See, this series has undergone such a huge upheaval that it demanded a reboot...or not. This is another pointless reboot that reads much like the oldNew Avengers title. Bendis' 'witty' dialogue is nauseatingly bad here, with people interrupting each other and being smartasses. Because everyone is a smartass, right? And they all speak in 4-5 word sentences, right? Bendis is the Weezer of comic book writers, in that he writes everything in a "haha, see Rock/ superhero comics are stupid, but we/I am in on the joke. Aren't they stupid? People who like them are stupid, too, because we are so much smarter than you." Much like Weezer, Bendis doesn't really get it. You can inject humor into things without the fake irony.
The plot itself is not bad, but the dialogue kills it for me. Brother Voodoo as the Sorcerer Supreme is retarded, by the way. They call him Doctor Voodoo, as if becoming the Sorcerer Supreme would automatically make him a doctor. You see Bendis, Doctor Strange was a doctor before he became the Sorcerer Supreme. Hence, Doctor Strange. Brother Voodoo would still be called Brother Voodoo, not Doctor Voodoo. Then again, what do I know? I'm just not as smart as Bendis.

Spider-Man and Wolverine being on one Avengers team was bad enough, but now they are on two. So Wolverine is in every X-Men title, every solo title, and two Avengers titles? Cripes. The Thing being an Avenger makes little sense and doesn't add much of anything to this title. I am glad that I followed this disappointing book with Secret Avengers Vol. 1. Just one issue of Brubaker goodness washed away 6 issues of Bendis mediocrity. I am done pre-ordering anything written by Brian Michael Bendis. I will wait for 1/2 off boxes at conventions or simply not read them at all. Worst comes to worst, my not ordering these will cause sales to plunge, maybe even to the point where Marvel will eject Bendis from the franchise. Maybe Marvel will cancel 2 or 3 of these Avengers titles. At the very least, I won't be paying top dollar to be underwhelmed time and again. It's a win-win situation as far as I can see.